When it comes to boys’ tennis, the Burbank High team still holds the edge over Burroughs after Tuesday’s 12-6 Pacific League victory, but it’s clear that the talent gap isn’t as wide.
Just a season ago, the Bulldogs placed third in league behind perennial power Arcadia and second-place Crescenta Valley, made the CIF Southern Section playoffs and won a wild-card match.
The Indians were seventh in the league and didn’t qualify for the postseason, but have improved immensely.
“It was a good match,” Burroughs coach Roy Bernhardt said. “First of all, we’ve got a new guy, freshman Samuel [Bernardy] and we have a couple of guys from the JV who were MVP’s last year. I would say we have a very good chance at our place to maybe beat them.”
The Bulldogs are 4-2 in all matches and 3-2 in league play, while the Indians are 3-5 overall and 3-3 in league action.
The Bulldogs’ doubles teams collected eight of the dozen points and were paced by the No. 1 tandem of senior Luciano Dapuetto and junior Ethan Lee, who buzzed through 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 over No. 1 senior Luc Thorn and senior Kiet Hoang, No. 2 junior Mark Do and sophomore Sebastian Muga and No. 3 junior Daniel Cho and junior Rafael Munguia.
“Me and my partner Ethan, we swept today, so we were pretty strong,” Dapuetto said. “I think our doubles came out pretty strong during the match and that’s why we were able to get the win today.”
Dapuetto said he thinks that visiting Burroughs has improved. “I heard that they had new singles players and that we have good singles players, but we had good strong doubles,” he pointed out.
Dapuetto said he and his partner get along very well.
“Ethan and I have good chemistry, so I think whichever team comes our way, we’re able to adapt and able to come through and win our points,” he said.
Burbank’s No. 2 duo, senior Harout Abganyan and sophomore Sid Dindiluri went through the same tandems 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
The Bulldogs’ No. 3 team of sophomore Parker Katz and sophomore Dominic Sumera went 7-5 over Thorn/Hoang, 6-3 over Muga/Do, but fell to Cho/Munguia 7-5.
In singles action, Burbank senior James Lee easily blitzed through No. 1 senior Kendric Marcy 6-0, No. 2 Bernardy 6-2 and No. 3 junior Cameron Flowers 6-0.
The Bulldogs’ No. 2 singles player, senior Nathan Soria, lost to Marcy 6-1, and Bernardy 6-3, but emerged victorious over Flowers 6-3.
At No. 3, freshman Alex Galstyan was swept, losing to Marcy 6-0, Bernardy 6-3 and Flowers 6-2.
